The Son's Struggle
by Captain Omnitron
Summary: Watch as Sora Uzumaki struggles to become a great ninja and prove his worth. Contains OC's and is fairly OC-centric. Major Sakura bashing
1. Chapter 1

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Author's Note: This is just a story about Naruto and Karin dealing with the fact their son(My OC if it isn't obvious) has no ninjutsu or genjutsu capabilities(Like Rock Lee but he won't be a Lee knock off I assure you). Okay this is more or less a practice story so I can work on my relationship story telling, because I'm not very good at it(In my opinion, which is all that counts on something like this). This is set after the current timeline of the series(Obviously). I'm planning on making this at least a 2 chapter story but if you like it I'll be willing to do more.

Chapter 1: Memories of Grief

Naruto walked into his home, having just returned from a long day of signing paperwork at the Hokage Tower. He loved being Hokage but he hated the paperwork, or as he liked to call it "Torture". As he hung his coat on the coat rack, he heard his wife walk out of the kitchen. There she was Karin Uzumaki, his wife of 14 years. She leaned in and kissed her husband.

"Dinners almost ready." Karin said as she walked back into the kitchen. Naruto followed her and could smell the wonderful aroma of ramen. Karin poured the ramen into 2 bowls and sat them on the table Naruto noticed this and immediately asked

"Where's Sora? Isn't he coming to dinner?" Naruto asked. Karin sighed and pointed towards the back door of the house. Naruto walked over and looked out the window. There was his 13 year old son, working himself to exhaustion training with his gigantic sword(A/N Picture Zangetsu's sealed form). Karin walked up behind him and saidm

"He said he grabbed a bite on the way home and he's been at it ever since." Naruto sighed as he remembered the day his son was born.

**FLASH BACK**

Karin had just gone through 7 hours of labor, which were filled with screaming and yelling threats at Naruto such as,

"COME NEAR ME AGAIN AND I'LL PERSONALLY CASTRATE YOU WITH A RUSTY KUNAI!" Naruto just kept telling himself it was the pain talking. At least he hoped it was the pain talking. But at any rate their son was now in the world and he was certainly the most beautiful baby either had seen. He had Karin's eyes and Naruto's sunny blonde hair. Suddenly there friends came in. Sai and his wife Ino, Rock Lee and Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji and the recently married Kiba and Hinata Inuzuka. A collective "Aw" filled the room. Everyone came up and looked at the small crimson eyed infant.

"He's so adorable. What's his name?" Naruto and Karin had been so busy getting things ready for the baby that they completely forgot to come up with a name! Naruto and Karin looked at each other hoping that one of them had decided on something. Naruto then looked out the window and noticed the clear sky, not a cloud in sight. Naruto smiled and replied,

"Sora." soon the nurses took little Sora to get him cleaned up and do a few examinations to make sure he's healthy.

It was an hour later that Tsunade came into the room.

"Granny! Come to congratulate us?" Naruto asked smiling widely. His smile smile soon faded as he noticed that Tsunade didn't scold him for calling her Granny and had somber expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he was getting a little worried by her behavior. Tsunade sighed and said,

"Naruto, Karin. I have something to tell you. It's about your son." Naruto's and Karin's eyes almost shot out of their heads when they heard this. Was he sick? Did someone kidnap him? Will he be blind? All these questions entered both their minds.

"We did a test on him to determine how much chakra he has. And he has roughly the same amount you did when you were born Naruto." Tsunade said almost in a monotone. Naruto and Karin just smiled in relief.

"Wow Granny, you almost had us thinking something was wrong!" Naruto said. Tsunade then said,

"While he has a lot of chakra, his chakra pathways aren't fully developed." Naruto was unsure where she was going with this and asked,

"What does that mean?" Tsunade sighed and replied,

"It means he won't be able to harness his chakra into jutsu." Naruto was to shocked to move, while Karin began to sob. Karin just kept thinking she had done anything that could have caused this. Naruto was too stunned to think. After a few moments of silence, Naruto said,

"Well then I guess we'll just have to make sure Lee is his sensei then." Both Karin and Tsunade looked at him in surprise but after a moment understood what he meant. While they all agreed with this, they also silently hoped the kid wouldn't take on Lee's terrible fashion sense or go on and on about youth. Naruto, Karin, and Tsunade all shuddered at the thought.

**FAST FORWARD 12 YEARS**

It had taken 6 hard years but Sora Uzumaki had made genin. And just as agreed Rock Lee would be his sensei and his team would be Daken Inuzuka(1) and Jade Yamanaka(2). Since Sora was 6 years old Naruto began to teach him everything he knew about taijutsu, but Sora always wanted to practice with weapons, especially swords. So when Sora became a genin, Naruto gave him a sword he had custom made for him. The sword was 5 feet long long, and had a flame like pattern on the hilt. It was a good thing that Sora was 5'6 or the blade would have drug on the ground. It was also a blessing that he had been weight training to make himself stronger, as he was currently the physically strongest genin of that year, able to crush large boulders with one punch. Naruto and Karin felt great pride as they saw their son wearing the leaf symbol on his forehead.

**BACK TO PRESENT**

After a year of training with Lee, Sora had improved greatly with his taijutsu. However Lee could never get him to wear the infamous green spandex. No, Sora seemed to have inherited Karin's fashion sense, but Naruto's love of bright colors. Instead of orange however, Sora opted for a bright red leather jacket, dark red leather pants, and he also wore a black colored forehead protector around his neck like a collar. While there were many swordsman in the village, Sora chose to train himself in the way of the blade. He had invented his own style that put him on par with any traditionally trained swordsman. Naruto proudly watched his son before he opened the window and yelled out at him,

"Sora I know you've burned through that snack you had earlier! Come on in it's time for dinner!" Sora smiled and sheathed his sword as he began to walk toward the house.

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**1. Yes this is Kiba and Hinata's son. **

**2. Yes this is Sai and Ino's daughter.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Chapter 2: A Worried Mother

Sora put his sword and shoes next to the back door and entered into the dining room. Sora took a seat next to Naruto as Karin put a bowl of ramen in front of him. Sora then began digging in, and finished the entire bowl in less then 30 seconds.

"Well I'm gonna go train some more before it gets to late." Sora said as he raced for the back door. Naruto smiled at his son's drive to get stronger, while just Karin sighed. Naruto picked up on it and asked,

"What's wrong? Sakura giving you a hard time again?" Karin adjusted her glasses and replied,

"No. That bitch doesn't bother me anymore, but not for lack of trying." Naruto took a deep breath and thought about how Sakura took the news of him and Karin being together.

**FLASH BACK**

Naruto had just killed Sasuke and the rest of his Taka, save for Karin who was already in custody. Sakura took the news badly, but didn't blame Naruto, after all he was just doing his duty. A couple of months later Sakura tried to get Naruto to go out with her but he declined. When Sakura asked him why, he told her that he had a girlfriend now. Sakura demanded to know who it was, so Naruto told her. Naruto had gone to tell Karin he had killed Sasuke, as she claimed to be in love with the Uchiha. Naruto told her, but she said that she didn't care. Naruto was confused until Karin told him that she had grown infatuated with him because his chakra was the warmest and most caring she had ever felt, compared to Sasuke's cold and hate filled chakra. So after that Naruto went to Tsunade and convinced her that since Karin hadn't done anything directly against Konoha then she could be put on probation and maybe even become a Konoha ninja. It took a lot of work but the decision was made and less than a year later Karin was made a Konoha kunoichi at chunin level. During all that though, Naruto and Karin's relationship grew and after 2 years of dating Naruto proposed. Sakura was furious however and decided to beat some sense into Naruto. Naruto was just walking home one day when all of a sudden Sakura jumped him and began trying to pound him like a drum, saying things like,

"SHE'S THE ENEMY NARUTO! YOU LOVE ME!" It took Kiba, Rock Lee, and Sai to calm her down. Tsunade then put Sakura on a mental leave, since it was obvious she couldn't control herself. Soon it was the day of the wedding, and Naruto was never happier. However as they were about to say their vows, Sakura crashed the wedding and tried to kidnap Naruto saying it was for his own good. This didn't work as Tsunade was at her wits end with Sakura and beat the crap out of her. After Sakura was rushed to the hospital, the ceremony went on. 2 years later Karin gave birth to Sora, and Naruto heard from Ino that Sakura said hated the baby. Naruto didn't think anything about it until one day he was walking down the street with Sora in his arms and Sakura openly threatened his son.

**END FLASH BACK**

The sound of Karin picking up the dishes snapped Naruto out of his thoughts. He followed her to the kitchen and asked,

"Okay so if it's not Sakura, then what is it?" Karin placed the dishes in the sink and sighed. She turned to face her husband and said,

"It's Sora. His chakra feels different lately. I remember when I had trouble telling you 2 apart, but now there's a sadness in him. I tried talking to him but he said he didn't want to talk about it." Naruto wrapped his arms around his wife and smiled as he said,

"I'll talk to him about it." Karin returned the smile before kissing him.

Naruto walked outside and saw Sora still training. Naruto walked up to his son, carefully avoiding the large blade of his son's sword, and said,

"How about we go for a walk? We haven't much quality time lately. Sora looked at his father curiously but replied,

"Sure Dad, guess it's quitting time anyway." and with that they began to walk around the forest that surrounded their home.

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	3. Chapter 3

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Chapter 3: A Son's Strife

Naruto and Sora walked through the forest for 20 minutes not saying a thing. Naruto was quite comfortable with it, gazing at the stars as he walked, but he felt that Sora was very uncomfortable. Soon they reached a clearing and Naruto decided to break the silence and said,

"You know your Mother's worrying about you." It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. Sora let out a sigh and said,

"She doesn't need to, I'm fine." Naruto grabbed his son by the shoulder and looked him square in the eye and said,

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that." Sora tried his best not to but Naruto grabbed him by the chin and forced him to.

"I'm FINE!" Sora said in a slight growl. Naruto sighed and released his son. Sora just looked at the ground as he felt his father's eyes upon him. Suddenly Sora spoke up and said,

"I'm not fine okay? It's the kids at the Academy." Naruto looked at his son in surprise, he never thought that Sora was having trouble at school, after all his report cards were always good.

"It started a couple of months ago." Sora started, "Me, Daken, and Jade were training and Daken used a new jutsu and bragged about how it was his dad's signature jutsu and how he finally taught it to him. Then it hit me. I'll never be able to be as strong as you, and you'll never be proud of me." Sora finished as a few tears started to fall from his eyes. Naruto was in shock. He had no idea how his son must of felt, being the son of the Hokage and not even be able to do the simplest jutsu let alone one as complicated as Rasengan.

"Sometimes I have dreams where you and Mom have another kid and he's perfect at jutsu, and you forget about me." Sora said in a shaky voice as if about to burst into tears. Naruto then quickly wrapped his son in a tight hug and said,

"Nothing can ever make me or your Mother forget about you. Your my first son, my blood. You make me proud everyday Sora. Everytime you go on a mission and comeback without so much as a scratch, I have to fight the urge to run out and tell everyone how good you are." Sora looked up at his father and the tears he was fighting finally came out as he hugged his father back. They stayed like that for a long while, until Naruto decided that they should probably head home.

Sora headed straight up to his room, while Naruto headed for the living room where Karin was watching the shopping channel. Naruto plopped down on the couch next to his wife and laid his head back staring at the ceiling. Karin looked at Naruto for a few moments before asking,

"So how did it go?" Naruto turned his head and looked through her glasses and into her ruby colored eyes and replied,

"He thinks that I'm not proud of him because he can't use jutsu." Karin's eyes widened as what Naruto said finally hit her. Naruto leaned over, his elbows resting on his knees as he continued,

"With all the kids finally learning and using their family jutsu's he's feeling left out of it. He said he has dreams about us having another kid and forgetting about him." Karin was speechless. She had known something was wrong but she never imagined her son having an inferiority complex! Karin scooted closer to Naruto and rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed and said,

"Those dreams of his are going to make things harder." Naruto looked down at her and asked,

"Why's that?" Karin sat up and looked him in the eye and said,

"I'm 3 weeks pregnant." Naruto's eyes became filled with tears of joy and hugged his wife tightly.

"I don't think we should tell Sora right now. With what he's going through right now it might make things worse." Karin said. Naruto nodded in agreement. Tehy both sat there for a few minutes before heading to bed. As they got into bed Karin asked Naruto,

How long do we wait before we tell him? It's not like we can hide it for long." Naruto sighed and replied,

"Let's just try and help him through this as fast as we can or this might really mess him up." Karin agreed and kissed her husband goodnight.

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	4. Chapter 4

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Chapter 4: Secrets and Regrets

Sora woke up to his mother calling him down to breakfast. Sora sleeping drug himself from his bed and trudged down stairs. Sora had a large amount of energy when it came to training but he was definitely not a morning person. Sora sat down at the table next to his mother and dug into the food in front of him. Naruto was always gone by the time he woke up, being the Hokage meant waking up at the ungodly hour(According to Sora) of 6:00am. Sora noticed Karin looking at him intently, which needless to say was making him a little uncomfortable.

"Mom? Are you alright?" Sora asked a little uneasily. Karin snapped out of her gaze and quickly said,

"Oh, just thinking." Sora looked at his mother curiously before disregarding it and finished his food. Sora went up to his room to get his sword, kunai, and shuriken, and got ready to head to his team's usual training ground. As he was about to go out the door, Karin gabbed his shoulder. Sora turned his head and looked at his mother as he said,

"Mom, I'm gonna be late!" Karin gave her son a stern look and said,

"Your father told me about those dreams you've been having." Sora sighed and replied,

"It's nothing, just a stupid dream." And with that he left. Karin sighed as she watched her son walk off.

Sora reached the training grounds and saw Daken and his dog Hayataro, and Jade. Sora walked up to his friends, they began to talk.

"So Sora, did ya hear? We're getting a C-ranked mission today!" Daken said with great enthusiasm. Sora was excited as well, it had been nothing but D rank missions for the past 3 months, but he noticed something odd.

"Hey, where's Lee-sensei? It's not like him to be late." Sora said as he noticed Lee was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly they saw a flash green run past them. At first they thought it was Lee until they saw that said green flash was carrying Lee. They figured it must be Might Guy as he was the only other person in all of Konoha aside from Le who wore green spandex.

"EMERGENCY! TRAINING EMERGENCY! OUT OF THE WAY!" Guy yelled at the top of lungs as he rushed toward the hospital. Sora, Daken, and Jade decided to follow him. When they got there they saw Lee being put on a stretcher with Guy bawling uncontrollably. Apparently Guy and Lee were doing one of their extreme training sessions and Lee got a concussion.

"Well I guess that means no mission today." Daken said as he and Hayataro left.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sora." Jade said as she left as well. Sora sighed and was about to leave to but he noticed Karin entering the hospital. Curious Sora decided to follow her. As soon as Karin signed at the receptionist desk, Sora decided to announce himself.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Sora said. Karin was shocked and instead of answering her son asked him,

"Aren't you supposed to be on a mission today?" Sora shook his head and replied,

"I was, until Lee-sensei gave himself a concussion." Suddenly the receptionist said,

"Mrs. Uzumaki? The obstetrician will see you now." Those words hit Sora like a ton of bricks. Sora then walked off in hurry, leaving a very worried Karin.

Sora headed to the Hokage Tower to speak to his father about this. He entered Naruto's office and saw him and his assistant Hinata Inuzuka, going over some reports. Naruto looked up and was about to great his son until he noticed the somber look on his face. Naruto told Hinata to give them a few minutes alone. Once Hinata was out of the room, Sora said,

"Mom's gonna have a baby." Naruto sighed, he didn't think Sora would find out this soon. Naruto got up from his chair and walked over to his son.

"Yeah, she is. We didn't want to tell you about it now because we thought you might not take it well because of those dreams you're having." Naruto said as he looked at the hurt expression on his son's face. It killed Naruto to see his son like this, but there wasn't anything he could do.

"I'm sorry we kept it from you, but I promise that nothing is going to change between us. Your Mother and I love you with all out heart and we won't let anyone or anything take your place." Sora just nodded slowly and left without a word.

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	5. Chapter 5

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Chapter 5: Nightmares

The next few weeks were extremely edgy at the Uzumaki household. Sora refused to talk to his parents. Sure he would talk to them about small things, like how his day was or how his missions went, but he outright refused direct conversation. Karin could definitely tell he wanted to talk to them, his chakra was a dead giveaway, but she didn't try to force it out of him. Naruto on the other hand wasn't as patient, and made several failed attempts to have a conversation with his son that lasted longer then 10 seconds. Naruto knew why this was happening. Sora was convinced that he was going to be replaced. And it was all because of those dreams, which Naruto and Karin had recently learned had become nightmares, as Sora started shouting in his sleep every night. Naruto and Karin decided to settle this once and for all.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon, and Sora had just come home from training with his team. Sora made it to the stairs before Karin called him into the living room. Sora entered and was surprised to see Naruto there, or at least he was until he figured out that Naruto must have had a shadow clone do his work as he usually did when he could. Karin pointed to the couch and said,

"Sit." Sora did so and sat down. Naruto and Karin also sat down, facing him as Karin began,

"Sora, we know you're having nightmares about the baby." Sora just looked at the floor, like he was being punished for something. Karin sighed and continued,

"But just because we're having another child doesn't mean we'll stop caring about you. We might be give the baby more of our time after he or she is born but that won't mean we love you any less." Sora glanced up at his mother then back down at the floor. Naruto decided to jump in and said,

"I said nothing would change and it won't! Because this time your Mother will do all the work, so I can have more time with you!" Needless to say this earned him bonk on the head from Karin.

"Like hell, that's gonna happen!" Karin snapped at her husband who was currently rubbing his throbbing head. Karin recomposed herself and turned her attention back to Sora.

"I know you must be angry with us for trying to hide it from you, but we did it because we felt it was best for you." Karin said as she got up from her chair and then sat down next to her son on the couch.

"I know all that. I know you won't replace me, or forget about me. But I can't stop these nightmares! They just keep getting worse and worse!" Sora said as he got up from the couch.

"Now there's this fox that keeps showing up in the nightmare! It's big, red, and it has 9 tails. It keeps telling me I'm going to be left alone forever!" Sora said as he began pacing around the room. Naruto and Karin's eyes widened as they heard Sora mention the fox. They had never told Sora about the Kyuubi, not that it was a secret, the subject just never came up. Naruto had to wonder if maybe some of the fox's chakra had been passed into Sora. It would be the most rational explanation, but then again , Naruto was never the most rational thinker Hokage or not. Naruto walked over to his son and grabbed him by the shoulders and said,

"That fox can't hurt you. I won't let it." Sora looked into his father's eyes, and saw a look of understanding, as if Naruto knew exactly what he was going through. Naruto looked at his son and said,

"Why don't we go do some training? Just you and me?" Sora perked up a little at that and smiled for the first time in weeks, albeit a small one. Naruto told him to head outside and he'd be there in a minute. Sora rushed outside and began warming up. Naruto looked over at Karin and said,

"Tonight, after he goes to sleep, I want you to see if you can feel Kyuubi's chakra in him." Karin looked at him curiously and asked,

"But why wait for him to be asleep?" Naruto replied,

"If he's getting nightmares about the fox then maybe it only comes out when he's asleep." Karin nodded as Naruto went outside to train with their son.

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	6. Chapter 6

The Son's Struggle

Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. My OC's belong to me and me alone!

Chapter 6: A Fox in Sheep's Clothing

Sora practically had to drag himself up to his room that night. Naruto and him trained for 5 hours! Naruto wanted to make sure Sora was good and tired, so that his plan would work. Usually Sora was a very light sleeper, make the smallest noise in his room and he would wake up, but make him tired enough and he could sleep through an earthquake. Once they were sure he was sound asleep, Karin entered Sora's room and sat down on the end of his bed. Karin waited for an hour for something to happen, but Sora's chakra was peaceful and calm. Karin was starting to get tired and began to doze off, but as she was almost asleep Sora's chakra flared up. Karin was now fully awake as she watched her son start writhing in his sleep. Sora began mumbling in his sleep, then those mumbles became quick shouts. Karin went to wake her son up from his nightmare but was stopped when she felt a dark chakra being to fill Sora. It was a bright red chakra that began filling his body. Karin then noticed his hair changed from it's usual bright blond to a dark red. Karin wasn't sure if what she just saw was real, as it was pretty dark in the room with the only light coming from the moon outside. Sora shouted once again and this time Karin saw that his canines were longer. Sora then began to scram his lungs out. Naruto rushed into the room as Karin quickly snatched Sora up and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, Mama's here." Karin whispered into Sora's ear as she stroked his hair. Sora calmed down, and the red chakra disappeared as his hair and teeth returned to normal. Karin laid the now peacefully sleeping Sora back onto his bed and covered him up. Karin turned and saw Naruto standing in the doorway. Karin walked over and hugged him.

"He definitely has some of the Kyuubi's chakra." Karin whispered, as she held onto to Naruto. Karin then told Naruto what she saw happen to their son, and needless to say, Naruto was shocked and a little scared. But it was too late to dod anything so they went back to their room and went to sleep. Well Karin did, Naruto on the other hand needed to speak to a certain Fox.

Naruto stood before the cage of the Fox. Kyuubi then appeared and yawned as it said,

**"This better be good kit. I was getting some shuteye, something I recommend you doing"** Naruto just glared at the fox and said,

"My son has some of your chakra in him. But I'm guessing you already know since you're appearing in his nightmares." The fox cast a stern look at Naruto and replied,

"**So maybe I did know. But that doesn't mean I'm doing anything to his dreams. If I had to guess his situation is similar to ours. I get to come out a little when you get super pissed off. But since their isn't any guiding force behind the chakra in your son, it comes out when he's stressed."**

Naruto thought for a moment and it did make sense. However he still had one more question.

"If that IS true, then how come it hasn't happened when he's training or on a mission?" The fox was silent for a moment before replying,

**"What's stressful for some isn't always stressful for others. Training can be a release for stress, and he's got his team to help him missions. But nothing adds stress like constant nightmares. I don't really see this as a bad thing though. My chakra can heal, so it may heal that pathetic excuse for a chakra network of his."**

Naruto glared at the Kyuubi before leaving. Naruto looked around and he was back in his room, with Karin sleeping peacefully beside him. Naruto saw that the clock read 3:02 and sighed, he had to get up in three hours. Naruto decided to just send a shadow clone into work tomorrow, so he could sleep in and maybe spend some more time with Sora.

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